---

No matter what the motivation of those pointing to corrupt practices by Bermuda's current administration, the range and instances of suspected corruption are growing. And the public's irritation is growing also.

The latest evidence of this is an electronic petition sponsored by a group calling themselves 'Bermudians for Open, Responsible and Honest Government'. This petition, no doubt encouraged by the U.K.'s intervention in the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI), are petitioning the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) of the U.K. Houses of Parliament to launch a Commission of Inquiry here in Bermuda. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the petitioners were also prodded into action by the latest in a series of personal attacks launched at Auditor General Larry Dennis by government leaders.

It is typical that those involved in nefarious activities declare and maintain their innocence, even in the face of the most damning evidence. Former U.S. President Richard Nixon declared, for example, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook." Eventually, despite his enduring denials, Nixon was exposed as crooked. People were pointing to evidence of it for years before it all came out in the open. And once it did, Nixon resigned and arranged for his successor to grant him a pardon, thus avoiding the embarrassment of a trial and the shame of an outright conviction. By that time, however, Nixon's administration had ruined the lives of countless Americans with surveillance and invasion of their privacy, character assassination to sully their names, illegal break-ins, forging and planting of documents and other dirty tricks, and harassment using America's internal and external security forces.

Juvenille arguments

An argument heard throughout the TCI Commission of Inquiry's hearings about some questionable or downright illegal practice was that the previous administration did it. That argument is one regularly put forward by juveniles wanting to limit parental oversight. It is also one quashed by sensible parents who point out that wrongdoing by others does not justify wrongdoing by oneself.

It has similarly become commonplace for PLP cheerleaders to respond to accusations of impropriety with, "well the UBP did it". Well, if the UBP did do it, it was a shameful practice then and, knowing the cruel injustice that was experienced by parents and other relatives, it is doubly shameful for the current PLP crop to copycat evil behaviour.

Further, do the followers of the PLP truly want to foist that legacy on the next generation? Are they capable of looking into the future and seeing their descendants being treated cavalierly and being told, "well the PLP did it"? Or are they so blinded by ambition, political greed, and the equivalent of destructive instant gratification that they just don't care what the consequences are, so long as they can reap the immediate spoils?

While the crude exploitation of public resources and blatant political patronage exposed in TCI does not show itself so clearly here in Bermuda, it may only be because our institutions and infrastructure are more sophisticated. As a result, local corrupt practices are likely to be more sophisticated and better hidden from view. Certainly the dismantling and relocation and, in some cases, the overt harassment of oversight aspects of the Civil Service, and the expansion of dubious and loosely monitored outflows of public funds can only heighten suspicions of corrupt practices.

And if the stepped-up attempts at character-assassination targeting any who question or criticize local government leaders are any indication, there is an effort approaching desperation to stave off any local inquiry.

But the questions are mounting. And whether those questions come from official overseers like the Auditor General, the media, or independent activists like Raymond Russell, they are legitimate and deserving of answers. And if the answers aren't forthcoming, then formal U.K. intervention through a Commission of Inquiry may be our only choice.

The petition can be found on the internet at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bermuda-royal-commission-of-inquiry[[In-content Ad]]

---